The Destroyer of Dinosaurs, Turned by Asteroids and Volcanic Eruptions

MASSAPEDIA NEWS - Scientists have long believed that dinosaurs went extinct because of an asteroid hitting the Earth. But now there is a new theory. The extinction of the dinosaurs actually preceded by a volcanic eruption is very powerful.

The team of researchers from MIT and Princeton University managed to do the dating of the area named the Deccan Traps in India, which has conserved evidence of a volcanic eruption the largest on Earth.

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Deccan Traps is a clash of the volcano in the Deccan Plateau, India. The total area is around 1.5 million square kilometers. Massive eruption estimated to have occurred here millions of years ago.

The scientists managed to find zircon, a mineral containing uranium and is forming magma after the eruption. They collected more than 50 rock samples.

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Apparently samples from the top and bottom layers in the Deccan Traps volcanic layer containing zircon. As a result, the researchers could calculate the prefix and suffix eruption there.

From their analysis, it is known that the eruption began in 250 thousand years before the asteroid strike and continued until 500 thousand years after the extraordinary events it.

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The volcanic activity has been spending a lot of lethal chemicals into the air, which poisoned the atmosphere and oceans.

"If a model release of chemicals that were true, then it is actually similar to that which is happening today," said Michael Eddy, researchers from MIT, was quoted as saying on Saturday (13/12). "A lot of carbon dioxide gas so make pollution in the atmosphere."

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According to Eddy, the next one could happen is contaminated sea plankton that can kill in large numbers. Death of plankton, as the bottom of the food chain, then the impact would be enormous for life.

Actually, scientists have long know there have been massive eruption in India. But his calendar yet precision. Now the date is known, the scientists came to the conclusion that volcanic eruptions are also factors cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.

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"But the debate is certainly not over yet," said Sam Bowring, a professor of Earth Sciences at MIT and Planet. "The impact of the asteroid may have caused the extinction, but the effect may be increased after a volcanic eruption."

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Before 1980, nobody yet knows what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. The hypothesis that existed at the time mentioned the possibility that the cause was a volcanic eruption.

But the discovery of iridium in Italy in 1980 to change that view. Iridium is a material that is found in objects from the space.